What is the promotion and extension of one’s game?
The aim of this game is to make the nation you control the most dominant on the map. Playing an RP game on this site, with the current game mechanics, we must respect this object of the game, and play accordingly. Every action you take in the game must be for your cause, towards advancing your position, and achieving your goals, both long term and short term. Playing in keeping with the realism of this game is of utmost importance.
However, it is also paramount that you RP every action of take in control of a nation, and in keeping with real world realism. Every action must be re-enacted and communicated as it would be as a matter of operation of an actual state.
Example: On the brink of disaster, it may be correct, RP wise, for Germany to not surrender and continue fighting. But this is not realistic, or in line with the game mechanics, as fighting no longer serves your purpose of advancing your position. However, it is also not right for you to abandon all RP attempts and randomly attack another nation without a justifiable casus belli or proper reason for war, just because it is strategically viable to do so as per the game mechanics.
Attacking a nation just because you can is not unrealistic. However, attacking without providing proper cause is. So, even as we seek to advance our position, and take advantage of a weaker state, we must take the time to find a casus belli and RP the events properly to lead to war.
The complicated balance between the above-mentioned element and the casting of various events and scenarios is what makes role playing a fine art.
What is the natural course of a game?
The natural course of the game assumes that you will act as a rational player and play to advance your own position, or at least maintain the balance of power, so that no player gains too much power and becomes dominant. In this condition, the actions of the players, as they wrestle for control, for the most case using diplomatic and economic means, the occasional subterfuge and the rare war, which are all means and extensions of state policy (i.e., state functions) , will create tensions and continue to fuel the RP, by providing events and scenarios which will lead to more events, in a self-sustaining manner, until such day when the number of players in the game gets reduced to the extent that there are only a few and more or less equal superpowers remaining, who are in a state of stalemate, and cannot continue the game further without RP, or such a state where the game finishes by one player reaching the victory condition.
How to represent adequately and with reasonable limits of realism?
Adequate realism, conforming to both the games requirements and the standards of the role-playing community is something of a balancing act. It requires practice, and patience. The first and most important thing is to understand that things can go wrong and be ready to make changes to meet the demands of others. At the same time, don't let others change your intrinsic style. Your choices should be your own.
Reasonable levels of realism mean that you should RP any event you may create, or influence, or otherwise interact with, and any communication you may engage in, with a likeness to the real-world interactions between nations. However, you need not go to great troubles to make it in depth.
Example: While in real life, there may be many bureaucratic works intervening between two heads of state as they establish contact, you may play it as two characters establishing direct contact. However, realistic titles and signatures to the correspondence would be appreciated.
Example: Most games use a time scale, like 1 game day being 1 month. In such games, if you are to date your articles, or your events (ex: declaring a time bound ultimatum) then you would have to keep note of the time scale used.
What is the balance of power?
In this game, strategically, every nation stands an equal chance to win. The resource distributions and locations might be different, but every nation can win according to the circumstances of the game.
In this game, whether you are playing an alliance game, individual game, role playing game, or any other version of it, your first intent should be in keeping the balance of power as it is, i.e., making sure that the balance of power does not shift in favor of any one or more players. If all it does, it should shift in your favor, not that of anyone else.
The basic idea of making yourself more powerful is in securing enough of all resources to make sure you can build up and progress. This must be so even more in an RP, where you are not allowed to wage endless wars and attack without proper reason, as it will destroy popular opinion and support for you and will make more players opposed to you, as your aggressive attempts to shift the balance of power in your favor may be seen as dangerous to others.
Similarly, when another player makes a gain, territorial, economic, political or diplomatic, you should work to neutralize this gain. If a nation has won over another in a war, allowing them to take over the whole of the conquered territory will not benefit you. You must attempt to minimize his gains as much as possible, by supporting a peaceful and equal solution, that would involve only a bare minimum of gains to the winner, and a bare minimum of losses to the vanquished. And an alliance should be countered by forming one of your own or making favorable acquaintance with the allies.
You must also avoid long wars and must try to make others stop prolonged conflict by using your diplomacy or ultimately, your own military intervention. This is because a war will eliminate one of more military powers, players on the geo-political playing field, which will tend to cast another power as dominant.
Playing with the balance of power in mind is important as, combined with good RPing, this will make for a game which lasts as players introduce checks and balances to neutralize each other, as well as providing enough tension and RP material, fueling events and scenarios to keep the game interesting. Remember, the real balance of power is not indicated by the DE points.
This, so far, describes the game as understood by the Old Guard and Leadership of The Roleplayers Union as well as any experienced players of the Supremacy 1914 Role Playing Community. It is also the style that has generated games with the most interest and longest life.
But there are other things that set this community apart from the more informal players. Prominent among these other features are a "Code of Honor" and a "Game Limiting/Scheduling System", as well as an equal acceptance of classical, non-scenario-based games and other, more fashioned, scenario based games.
